Non-rotating tappet arrangement



June 30, 1964 v. M. FLAHERTY 3,139,076

NON-ROTATING TAPPET ARRANGEMENT Filed Aug. 21. 1961 36 INVENTOR.

VICTOR M. FLAHERTY BY! 4% I] 7 9 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,139,076 NON-ROTATIN G TAPPET ARRANGEMENT Victor M. Flaherty, 6311 Seaman, San Diego, Calif. Filed Aug. 21, 1961, Ser. No. 132,771 11 Claims. (Cl. 123--90) The present invention relates to tappets for engines and means for preventing rotation of the tappets and more particularly to tappets of the type having a roller which rides on the actuating cam for the tappet.

Usually an engine, such as the internal combustion type, is provided with push rods which actuate rocker arms, which in turn actuate the valves for the engine. Such push rods are actuated by a cam shaft through tappets which latter are actuated directly by the cam shaft. It has been found highly advantageous to provide the tappet with a roller which is engaged by the cam shaft. Usually certain of these tappets are arranged parallely.

In practicing the present invention, at least one of the tappets is provided with an elongated recess or slot disposed parallely of the axes of the tappets. This recess or slot confronts the other of a pair of tappets. Means is movable with the said other of the tappets and is provided with a portion which extends into the recess for preventing rotation of both of the tappets.

Preferably each of the tappets is provided with recesses or slots which confront one another, and a free floating element is provided with portions which extend into both recesses concomitantly. And means is provided for preventing displacement oi the free floating element.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the free floating element is in the form of a roller, the periphery of which extends into the recesses or slots.

It is desirable to have the push rod extend into the usual bore of the tappet. Therefore the extent of movement of the roller toward the push rod should be limited. This is accomplished by providing a circular shoulder on at least one side of the roller and preferably shoulders on opposite sides of the roller. These shoulders engage the wall surfaces alongside the recess or slot to limit lateral movements of the roller.

The advantages will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view of a crankcase, parts thereof being shown in section, the section being longitudinal of one of the tappets;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a view of one of the tappets looking in the direction of arrow 3 of FIG. 1.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, a fragment of the crankcase of an internal combustion engine is shown at 20. This fragment is of a V8 engine. The cam shaft is shown at 22 having a series of cams, two of which are shown at 24 and 26. The crankcase is provided with cylindrically shaped tappet guides 28 and 30 which are longitudinally and parallely bored for receiving, respectively, cylindrically shaped tappets 32 and 34. As shown in FIG. 1, the lower ends of these tappets carry rollers 36 and 38, respectively, through depending tines 40 at the lower end of the tappets. These tines carry shafts 42 for the rollers. The tappets are each provided with longitudinal bores 44, each receiving a push rod 46. The bottom of the push rod abuts a circular shoulder 48 in the tappet.

It will be understood that in a V8 engine, at least sixteen of these tappets are provided and only two are herein shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention. The

shaft 22 are maintained parallel.

tappets are pushed upwardly by the cams 24 and 26 upon rotation of the cam shaft 22 and the tappets are forced downwardly by springs 50.

It is highly desirable to prevent the rotation of the tappets so that the axes of the roller shafts 42 and the To accomplish this, an element 52 has a portion associated with one of the tappets and a portion extending into the other of these tappets to prevent turning of the tappets. This element is shown in the form of a roller. The periphery of this roller 52 extends into slots 54 and 56 in each of the tappets. This roller is free floating. That is, it is not fixed to any element of the engine and therefore is translatably, i.e., bodily movable. These slots 54 and 56 are in confronting relationship. The slots extend longitudinally of the axes of the tappets and are of constant width throughout their functional length, as is more clearly shown in FIG. 3.

The tappet herein shown is one of standard construction except for the longitudinal slot therein. Namely it is provided with the bore 44 for receiving the push rod 46. In the preferred embodiment, it is desirable that the periphery of the roller 52 should not engage the periphery of the push rod. Therefore at least one side and preferably both sides of the roller 52 is provided with a circular shoulder 58 whose axis coincides with the axis of the circular roller 52. This shoulder, or these shoulders are adapted to engage the wall surface alongside of the recesses or slots 54 and 56 and thereby limit the extent of movement of the rollers toward and away from the tappets to prevent the periphery of the roller 52 from engaging the push rods.

If desirable, the area on the periphery of the tappets about the slots may be milled flat, as shown in FIG. 3.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been provided a simple and inexpensive means for preventing the rotation of tappets. It is necessary only to provide confronting slots in adjacent tappets and a roller such as that shown at 52, the periphery of which extends into bored slots or recesses concomitantly.

While the form of embodiment herein shown and described constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms may be adopted falling within the scope of the claims that follows:

I claim:

1. In an engine having an engine frame, in combination, two parallely disposed and cylindrically shaped guides secured to said engine frame; cylindrically shaped tappets slidably disposed in said guides, each of said tappets having a longitudinally extending recess, said recesses being in confronting relationship; and a roller having the periphery thereof extending into both recesses simultaneously to prevent rotation of said tappets relative to each other; and means on the roller and engageable with both tappets for limiting the extent of movement of the roller toward and away from said tappets.

2. In an engine having an engine frame, in combination, two parallely disposed and cylindrically shaped guides secured to said engine frame; cylindrically shaped tappets slidably disposed in said guides, each of said tappets having a longitudinally extending recess and an external wall surface alongside said recess, said recesses being in confronting relationship; and a roller having the periphery thereof extending into both recesses simultaneously to prevent rotation of said tappets relative to each other, said roller having a circular shoulder on one side thereof engageable with the wall surfaces alongside said recesses for limiting the extent of movement of the roller toward and away from said tappets.

3. In an engine having an engine frame, in combination, two parallely disposed and cylindrically shaped guides secured to said engine frame; cylindrically shaped 3 tappets slidably disposed in said guides, each of said tappets having a longitudinally extending recess and external wall surfaces along opposite sides of the recess, said recesses being in confronting relationship; and a roller having the periphery thereof extending into both recesses simultaneously to prevent rotation of said tappets relative to each other, said roller having circular shoulders on opposite sides thereof engageable with the wall surfaces alongside said recesses for limiting the extent of movement of the roller toward and away from said tappets.

4. In an engine having an engine frame, in combination, two parallely disposed and cylindrically shaped guides secured to said engine frame; cylindrically shaped tappets slidably disposed in said guides, each of said tappets having an elongated recess disposed parallely of the axes of the tappets, said recesses confronting one another; a single free floating element having portions extending into both recesses simultaneously to prevent rotation of said tappets relative to each other; and means on the element and engageable with both tappets for preventing displacement of said element from the recesses.

5. In an engine having an engine frame, in combination, two parallely disposed and cylindrically shaped guides secured to said engine frame; cylindrically shaped tappets slidably disposed 'in said guides, each of said tappets having an elongated recess disposed parallely of the axes of the tappets, said recesses confronting one another; a single free floating element having portions extending into both recesses simultaneously to prevent rotation of said tappets relative to each other; and means on the element and engageable with both tappets for preventing displacement of said element from the recesses.

6. In an engine having an engine frame, in combination, two parallely disposed and cylindrically shaped guides secured to said engine frame; cylindrically shaped tappets slidably disposed in said guides, each of said tappets having an elongated recess disposed parallely of the axes of the tappets and an external wall surface alongside said recess, a single free floating element having portions extending into both recesses simultaneously to prevent rotation of said tappets relative to each other, said element having a shoulder on one side thereof engageable with the wall surfaces alongside said recesses for preventing displacement of said element from the recesses.

7. In an engine having an engine frame, in combination, two parallely disposed and cylindrically shaped guides secured to said engine frame; cylindrically shaped tappets slidably disposed in said guides, each of said tappets'having an elongated recess disposed parallely of the axes of the tappets and external wall surfaces along opposite sides of the recess, a single free floating element having portions extending into both recesses simultaneously to prevent rotation of said tappets relative to each other, said element having shoulders on opposite sides thereof engageable with the wall surfaces alongside said recesses for preventing displacement of said element from the recesses.

8. In an engine having an engine frame, in combination, two parallely and cylindrically shaped guides secured to said engine frame; cylindrically shaped tappets slidably disposed in said guides, said tappets each being provided with an axially disposed bore, one end of each of the tappets being open for receiving a push rod and the other end forming a seat for the end of the push rod, each of said tappets having an elongated recess disposed parallely of the axes of the tappets and confronting the recess of the other of said tappets; and means translatably movable with said tappets and having portions extending into said recesses for preventing rotation of both of said tappets, the end of said extending portions of said means being spaced from said bores.

9. In an engine having an engine frame, in combination, two parallely and cylindrically shaped guides secured to said engine frame; cylindrically shaped tappets slidably disposed in said guides, said tappets each being provided with an axially disposed bore, one end of the tappets being open for receiving a push rod and the other end forming a seat for the end of the push rod, each one of said tappets having an elongated recess disposed parallely of the axes of the tappets, said recesses confronting one another; a single free floating element having portions extending into both recesses simultaneously to prevent rotation of said tappets relative to each other; means on the element and engageable with both tappets for preventing displacement of said element from the recesses, the ends of said extending portions of said element being spaced from said bore.

10. A combination as defined in claim 9, in which the free floating element comprises a roller, said roller having a circular shoulder on one side thereof engageable with the wall surfaces alongside said recesses for limiting the extent of movement of the roller toward and away from said tappets.

11. A combination as defined in claim 9, in which the free floating element comprises a roller, said roller having circular shoulders on opposite sides thereof engageable with the wall surfaces alongside said recesses for limiting the extent of movement of the roller toward and away from said tappets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,802,330 Boland Apr. 28, 1931 2,846,988 Iskenderian Aug. 12, 1958 2,935,878 Wirsching May 10, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 674,732 Great Britain July 2, 1952 

1. IN AN ENGINE HAVING AN ENGINE FRAME, IN COMBINATION, TWO PARALLELY DISPOSED AND CYLINDRICALLY SHAPED GUIDES SECURED TO SAID ENGINE FRAME; CYLINDRICALLY SHAPED TAPPETS SLIDABLY DISPOSED IN SAID GUIDES, EACH OF SAID TAPPETS HAVING A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING RECESS, SAID RECESSES BEING IN CONFRONTING RELATIONSHIP; AND A ROLLER HAVING THE PERIPHERY THEREOF EXTENDING INTO BOTH RECESSES SIMULTANEOUSLY TO PREVENT ROTATION OF SAID TAPPETS RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER; AND MEANS ON THE ROLLER AND ENGAGEABLE WITH BOTH TAPPETS FOR LIMITING THE EXTENT OF MOVEMENT OF THE ROLLER TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID TAPPETS. 